Small Town Living
by Demystified
Summary: Jack adjusted to small town living quicker than he had expected, but the townspeople seemed to adjust to Jack's city living culture. He found friends he thought he could trust, people he thought he loved, but in the end he discovered that no one seemed to


Hey guys, this is pretty short, but I just wanted to set the scene and all. I might be using the song "Ever So Sweet" by The Early November throughout this story.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" the judge bellowed through the courtroom. It was in a tone that would send shivers down a grown man's spine and put a baby on the verge of tears. It's not that he wasn't an amiable guy, he actually was one of the nicest men in town before this all happened. Something changed him. Something changed everyone. This catalytic change came so unexpectedly that everyone was thrown off guard.

The courtroom fell silent and every eye in the room was focused on the man standing shamefully in the front of the room. He wasn't the new guy anymore. Could he really be trusted? He had earned the respect of the town, but that was beginning to fade.

Jack Stevenson was praised in the eyes of many, admired by his neighbors, and even loved by a few. He wasn't the criminal that everyone made him out to be. A simple mistake or one wrong move could change a life's worth of accomplishments. Mr. Stevenson had made one that led him to this courtroom.

The hall started to dim as the sun went down and a slight murmur could be heard throughout the crowd. Jack was stalling. He looked up at the judge, fear struck in his eyes, only able to open his mouth slightly with no words escaping. Jack felt memories surging his mind and couldn't pick out a single one that made him see how he got here. It all happened too fast.

"Mr. Stevenson." The judge roared and even caused a few small children to jump in surprise out of their seats. "I asked you a question." His voice was chilling and cold. There was no sympathy anymore. Jack couldn't see his friend in the coldhearted judge that appeared before him anymore.

Avoiding his question, Jack surveyed the room. Scanning it, he saw all of the familiar faces. They looked on him as if he was a stranger. Admiring this case as if it was something they had seen on the television. There was no sympathy in their faces. They were typical onlookers, similar to what you would expect at a car accident on a local street corner. No one really cared who was in there, they just wanted to see the damage.

Jack's heart sank as he realized that there was no hope. He looked back once more in desperation, as if looking for some sign from above. His eyes locked with the shimmering green eyes that had once belonged to someone he called his wife. "How could you do this to me, Karen?" he thought to himself. The hints of evil, revenge, and even hatred, all visible in this girl's eyes. Jack saw it. She wasn't the same girl he had loved long ago.

Karen didn't move a muscle. She just stared, showing no sign of emotion. Was this the girl that once couldn't control her rage and ran away from her father, throwing a tantrum along the way? Was this the same girl that used to spend her free time staring out at the bright-lit city over the bay, digging her toes into the sand as she dreamed of a better place? How could one person change so much? Jack couldn't see it. He couldn't see anything in Karen anymore. She was hallow.

The only thing that was missing was music. A sad, depressing song would have fit Jack's mood perfectly. The melodramatic chord progression of an acoustic guitar, filled with the drum roll on a snare drum. A low voice that wouldn't sing words, but only "ohs" and "ahs", leaving his own mind to put the appropriate words in their place. The pounding beat of the bass drum that would mimic his racing heart. It would all fade out slowly, never ending on an abrupt beat, but always synchronized. It would all flow so well that it made him sad. It would remind him of perfection, something that he could never achieve in his small town life.

This was all too surreal. His feet giving out beneath him, hardly standing on his own, Jack was all alone. He had nothing left. He looked back at Karen one last time.

_I've found a friend in one of your lies. To treat me so nice I can't believe my bones._

There was nothing he could do. It was his word against hers. All Jack could do was live in his memories of her now…

**2 years prior to the event**

The local saloon was overcrowded with the regulars, the visitors to the town, and every now and then you'd see Cliff in the bar. He couldn't put a name to any of the faces in the bar; everyone was one big blur. Jack didn't know how things worked in the small town. Was he supposed to go up to people and saying things such as, "hey, I'm the new guy in town" or were they supposed to recognize him? Life in the city was different. You would only introduce yourself to people that you wanted to meet or people that you think will be a benefit to you if you knew them.

Fiddling with his hands as a subconscious act of nervousness, Jack stood out of place in the bar. It was only before too long that someone noticed. "Hey you! Come on over here" a voice had shouted from across the room. Jack turned around in circles for a moment, trying to position where the voice had come from. Immediately he saw a young and energetic girl with flaming red hair jumping up and down, waving her hands in the air to grab Jack's attention. Hesitating at first, Jack finally had the courage to proceed towards the young lady who didn't seem to be much younger than he was.

Jack looked at her for a second, as if he were evaluating the figure standing before him. Realizing that he probably looked like some spectator at a horse race, eyeing up the durability of the horse, he snapped out of his dreamlike state and pardoned his rudeness. But before Jack even had a chance to introduce himself first, the young girl threw out her hand to greet him. A little thrown off at first by her eagerness, Jack accepted the handshake. "My name is Ann! Nice to meet you! You must be that new farmer that every has been talking about." Ann was so into the moment and so full of life that she completely forgot to let go of Jack's hand. Jack gave a short and pathetic laugh, then looked down at his hand to hint to Ann that she should let go before his hand lost circulation. She looked down quickly and responded "Oh! I'm so sorry!" Jack grinned and replied, "Don't worry about it. The name's Jack."

"Nice to meet you, Jack!" He had only met a few girls like her. She was living so much in the moment that it didn't look like the girl had a care in the world. Whenever Jack met a girl like this in the city, it usually meant one thing—they were hiding their troubles by the means of denial. These people, he found, often were unstable and would burst at any moment. That was something he didn't really care about at the moment. He was new and needed to fit in. He would take whatever he was offered without questioning it.

Before too long, Jack was in a full fledge conversation with Ann, talking about anything that came up. He explained where he came from, what he used to do, why he moved out here; talking to Ann seemed to Jack like talking to the sister he never had. She was so easy going that he felt like he had known her forever.

Glancing down at his watch, he realized that it was almost midnight and he still had yet to unpack his belongings. He stood up from his chair, apologized for the sudden leave, and said he would talk to Ann later. As he stood up, he slowly backed away from the table while saying goodbye to her, but soon found himself lying on the floor with dishes and beer mugs crashing down around him. He had backed right up into a young waitress at the saloon. Taking a second or two to reorient himself, Jack looked to his left and saw a petite blonde with green eyes who appeared to be the waitress that he had run into. Jack couldn't help but stare—she was gorgeous. Her flowing dirty blond hair matched the curves of her figure, bringing out the light green tint to her eyes and the red in her cheeks. He was caught in a dream, a fairytale. Cinderella was here waiting for him to put her shoe back on her foot, waiting for him to sweep her off her feet and take her away to live happily ever after.

That beautiful young princess soon turned into an angry monster as she stood up and screamed in Jack's face, "Watch where you're going you asshole! Are you trying to make me lose my job! Gosh…people these days…" Fury lit up her innocent face and she started to pick up the shattered pieces of glass. The girl mumbled curses under her breath with each shard of glass that she picked up. Jack was still sitting on the floor, struck with an emotion that he couldn't put a name to. He had just seen the perfect woman right in front of his very eyes vanish into a creature that would haunt him only in his scariest nightmares. Despite her sudden unpleasant demeanor, Jack couldn't help but admire her.

He slowly rose to his feet, brushing off the tiny pieces of glass on his lap as he stood. "I-I'm so sorry, miss. I wasn't looking where I was walking."

"You're damn right you weren't! Watch where you're walking next time or else _you_ will be on a short trip to pain. Won't even need to pack." Jack knew he was getting yelled at, but something in her eyes caught his attention. Maybe it was the reflection of the bar floodlights above and how they glistened in her eyes, but Jack was captivated by them and couldn't look away. The anger was just a cover; her eyes showed what she really was feeling.

_To treat me so nice. I can't believe my bones. When they say, so many things. _

Jack didn't even get the mystery girl's name. He spent the rest of the night unpacking, but his mind was somewhere else…with someone else…


End file.
